


The Penumbra Drabbles

by Kikithehousemoose



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Comfort Food, Drabble Collection, childhood poverty, more to be added - Freeform, weird food combinations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 15:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14059590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikithehousemoose/pseuds/Kikithehousemoose
Summary: A collection of drabbles featuring characters from The Penumbra Podcast (Juno Steel case files).1: Comfort Food2: RiddlesOther chapters to be added.





	1. Comfort Food

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna come up with a better title I swear.,  
> Until then take a snapshot of the twins. Sorry it's so short.

Rita’s disgust was audible from across the room. Then again, everything Rita did was audible, so that wasn’t anything new. Juno wouldn’t have even heard it if she hadn’t added words to her shock.

“Mistah Steel, how can you _eat_ somethin’ like that? There’s just no way that can taste good.”

“What, peanut butter and onion? C’mon Rita don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it before. Sure it’s not ideal for kissing but I don’t plan to go around making out with anyone in the next few hours.” He waves his half sandwich for emphasis. Rita sticks her tongue out, gagging.

“It’s not just that, Mistah Steel! Just the other day you put jelly on a hot dog wrapped in a tortilla and called it breakfast! Or that time you got some fried cheese sticks from that one corner stand and put them in hot applesauce-- which, _really_ , who’s even heard of _hot_ applesauce?! Or, OR, that time you went on an all-liquid diet like you do sometimes when you get real bad and I gotta be the one to take care of you and make sure you’re gettin _some_ kind of food in you and you go and invent that GROSS drink with the chicken broth and the ramen packet and the vodka and--”

“What, meat tea?”

“IT AIN’T EVEN TEA MISTAH STEEL!!! There wasn’t a lick of tea in that thing!!! And then you finally eat a solid and it’s just cause you wanna have it with _stroopwafels_! I can’t take any more of seeing you treat yourself like this!”

“Hey now” he narrows his eyes at her, chewing judgmentally, “Eating this is probably the best I’m gonna treat myself in a long time, so you really ought to appreciate it for what it is.”

“But what is it besides plain ol’ _nasty_?!!”

“This, Rita?” He nods sagely, turning his chair around to face away from her. “This is self-care.”

“It is _not_!!!”

He wasn’t listening anymore. His back turned, he was staring at the wall, his mind wandering back to all the other meals he liked that other people might consider ‘weird’. They hadn’t felt weird to him in a long, long time. If anything, they were his favorite foods. They reminded him of simpler times-- harder, but simpler. His childhood.

 

 

 

 

 

“Do we have any cheese?”

  
He stood on his toes to try and see, but his view was blocked by the body in front of him. Benten kneeled on top of the counter, rummaging through the cabinet, taking stock of whatever was at the ready. He dug around for another second before shaking his head, bumping it against the top as he pulled himself out.

“No, we-- ow-- we had the last of the cheese with the chocolate last time, but we’ve got pickles still.”

Juno eyes the pickles with scrutiny. It wasn’t that he didn’t want them, but this time he actually had options. He almost didn’t know what to do with it.

“We could just put it all on the sandwich” he suggests “Eat more now so that we don’t gotta come back here later.”

 

Ben nods in agreement, setting the pickle jar on the counter beside him and climbing back down to the floor. He shivers when his bare feet touch the ground taking the extra blanket Juno had held onto, wrapping it around himself.In front of them were all the essentials they would need to make their meal for the day: some last remaining slices of cheap white bread, a half-full jar of peanut butter, onions they’d taken earlier that day, and a jar of pickles that only smelled a little more weird than usual. Juno had the right idea to just make a sandwich out of everything. It probably wouldn’t even be too bad.

They have a rhythm down already, going through the process mechanically. Juno sets out the bread, Ben gets the peanut butter. Juno rips apart the onions, Ben breaks the pickles into chunks. They make their sandwiches side by side, one side at a time instead of one sandwich at a time. They don’t even have to talk. They lick their hands once they’re done, putting the ingredients that are left away as quickly as possible before scampering outside to consume their creations.

 

It’s cold on Mars. It isn’t as cold as it could be that night, but they wrap their blankets around themselves tighter regardless, brushing their feet into the sand with every step in hopes the friction will warm them up. Around them, Old Town is far from asleep, but it’s a fairly quiet night. They don’t look back at their house as they walk the usual path, meandering around until they end up in one of their usual haunts.

“Hm!” Juno makes a noise of surprise, his crunches louder than their shuffling. “This is.. Actually not bad.”

 

Ben tries a bite of his own sandwich and makes the exact same noise. “This is really good, June."

“Guess we oughta steal onions more often huh? Hey maybe we could do this but without the bread. Like carve out the center of an onion and stuff the peanut butter and pickles inside it.”

Ben nods. “We need to do that next time.”

Juno gets his thinking face as he eats. “Do you think we can do anything with the skins?”

There’s a popping sound as Benten clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth to remove some peanut butter from there. “I dunno. Probably. Maybe we can put it in with some pasta and ice cream for a little more crunch, and maybe some seasoning? I think the skins have seasoning.”

“Maybe we can wrap it around the pickles, if anything. Get s’more crunch that way.”

Ben nods agreeably. “ _Crunch_.”

 


	2. Riddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wandering around Old Town at night, Ben and Juno quiz each other with riddles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might end up adding onto this more but it was just a quickie in between classes. None of the riddles here are original.

“Okay, riddle me this” his voice is the only noise besides the shuffling of sand and distant hum of the world beyond them. They have their own little dome here in each others company, a bit of paradise where nothing can think to touch them. They’ve wandered to the edge of Old Town, but it’s no hurry to get back. There aren’t supposed to be any sandstorms any time soon.

“You tracked down the truth within the old stories. You found the map, you trekked through the treacherous wasteland, and finally you stumble upon a hole in the ground that you fall into. You just located a legendary dungeon that holds a huge horde of treasure inside of it. Ancient Martian coins. The bad news is that you’ve awaken the ghost of the wizard who used to own the treasure, and he isn’t going to let you go until you solve his puzzle.”

Did they need to create all the stories for them? No. But it helped keep them entertained. Benten continues:

“Both faces of each coin have the same symbol and feel exactly the same to the touch. On each coin, one side is gold and the other side is silver. All you need to do is separate them into two piles and each pile needs the same number of coins facing silver side up. But just as you’re about to start-- _fwoosh_ ” Juno dodges away from the hot breath his brother blows on him for theatricality “all the torch lights go out and you’re left in complete darkness. You can’t see which coins are which anymore. You remember seeing 10 of the coins with their silver side up, but you don’t remember which 10. What do you do?”

Juno rolls his eyes. “I count out a random pile of 10 coins and then flip all of those and I’m done. No matter how many silver coins I might’ve had in the pile, if I flip them, then the number of silver coins will remain the same. C’mon, Ben, give me a challenge.”

Ben sticks his tongue out. “It’s not my fault you solve them so fast. You give me one now.”

Juno shakes his head. “Nope. My great intellect isn’t satisfied. Give me another.”

Benten whines. “Juno! That’s not fair!” He said that a lot.

“Of course it’s fair” Juno argues “The deal is that we give each other riddles, but you gave me something that keeps little babies occupied while their parents try to hide bad news from them. I’m not giving you more until you give me a real puzzle.”

His twin huffs. He’s silent for a long time.

Juno, stubborn as he is, let’s the silence go on for a while before glancing back at him. “Are you seriously pouting or..”

“I was _thinking_. Okay, I’ve got a short one, but then you’ve gotta give me one.” Juno nods in agreement, so Ben continues. “When I’m used, I’m useless. When I’m offered, I’m rejected. I’m expressed in desperation, never intended or protected. What am I?”

Juno scoffs. “Did you really just do that to use all of our vocab words?” Ben beams with pride. “I did it though! Now you’ve gotta solve it.”

“Alright, alright” Juno falls silent while he thinks, hearing only the shuffling of his brother beside of him. Used, and then useless. A one-use item. Offered, then rejected. Something thrown away. Something cheap to be expressed in desperation. A plea? Never intended… No, not a plea, then. But something along that line. A plea… an offer… an…. Hm. An excuse? Offered, then rejected. Used, then useless. Expressed in desperation, never intended or protected. He snorts. “A bad alibi.”

“Look who’s smart!” Ben walks backwards in front of him, grinning. “My turn. Lay it on me.”

They’d been wandering all afternoon. They would continue wandering until well into the night. It would be just like this, always. The two of them in their dome of riddles, wandering through the desert until they find whatever they’re looking for. 


End file.
